Nehemiah 5 - House Divided

Chapter four ended right. They were doing the work of God. Although it came with great opposition, they worked with a sword in one hand. I would imagine working with one hand would slow down their pace, but none-the-less they pressed on. However, in chapter 5 there is no mention of work, only strife.

One commentary read, “A great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren meant one group fought against another. When God’s people fight one another they certainly are neither fighting the REAL enemy nor getting God’s work done. The enemy could not stop the work of God by direct attack, but the work stopped when God’s people weren’t unified and working together.”

So there is no mention of advance in chapter 5, only mention of internal fighting. I wonder today what their greatest sin was, the controversy among themselves, or the fact that it kept them from doing what they were called to do. This is an eye opening part of the journey.

“Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers. Some were saying, "We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain."

Others were saying, "We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine." Still others were saying, "We have had to borrow money to pay the king's tax on our fields and vineyards. Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others."- Nehemiah 5:1-5

So they were in a famine. People were trying to mortgage their property (and I would imagine taking 2nd mortgages). Taxes had to be paid. Money was slim. Sounds like January 2009. And it was following a season in which they had given much of their money and time to this service project of faith. Seemed like the most inopportune time for a provisional downturn and almost foolish to continue making such sacrifices for the greater good. Yet God is proven a faithful provider (again) through giving Nehemiah favor among the nobles and officials.

“For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.” – Psalm 50:10

I'm thinking today about the greater good we are vested in. Whatever that may be in the Kingdom. We may not be building the wall around Jerusalem, but our mission is great. Strife will come, in fact it's here for many, maybe now is not the time to back off and get cautious. Maybe now is the time to truly trust in God's provision:

“And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Isaiah 58:10-11

"Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." Malachi 3:10

1 Sam 30 - Everyone Matters

"David replied, 'No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and handed over to us the forces that came against us. Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.' David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this." (1 Samuel 30:23-25)

Here's a thought from a close friend today on this passage:

In verse 30 it is as if every experience that David endures shows up in a positive way in his conduct. Arriving at Ziklag, his men were ready to revolt because he had led them away and during their absence their families were plundered. He responds by trusting and seeking God. But for me the most profound is the lesson he teaches his men about roles and responsibilities in a team.

“The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to battle”. I have long believed that for extraordinary performance to occur in an organization, three things must be in the minds of each individual; 1) they know their role 2) they believe it matters and 3) they are able to be proud of their work. David sets the tone for his leadership early, each will have a role in my kingdom and no role is more important than any other. We should always me mindful to extend that to our organizations, including our church body. We always say ‘thank you’ to each who are serving, but do we mean it with the same level of intensity for every role that is being performed or in our heart do we think some roles are more important than others?

His question is rhetorical. But I'll add another verse to affirm and remind us of his point

"As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other." (1 Corinthians 12:20-25)

The Power of One

Could you imagine going at life alone? I simply cannot.

“Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out as ONE man and assembled before the LORD in Mizpah. The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords.” Judges 20:1-2

Friendships, partnerships, and teamwork make almost anything possible and it makes the journey more enjoyable as well. And they’ve got your back. When an injustice is done, there’s nothing quite like having a friend or colleague fight for you. Israel did this. In Judges 20 we see assembled an army of 400K men ready to rock. It was in the following verse (vs.3), that they finally asked, “So tell me what happened”. They were ready to defend before they even knew what they were defending! All they needed to know was WHO they were fighting for… the WHAT seemed very secondary.

There’s nothing quite like being on the team that accomplishes so much. The U.S. Army knows that, it’s why their new recruiting slogan is “An Army of One”. The idea appeals to each of us at gut level. So much more can be accomplished when we work together. Much more than any one singular entity, no matter how great, in partnership we are that much more productive. And in different kind of ways.

I’m reminded of this recently at ANC (www.AustinNewChurch.com) and our South Austin Cares (www.SouthAustinCares.org) relief efforts during Hurricane Ike. Because we are a new church (5 months old), we are pretty lean so we were able to mobilize quickly, take in evacuees, rally our resources, and make a HUGE impact immediately. But then after a week and a half of going “all out” we all realized how spent we were. And I mean “spent” in every sense of the word. That’s when our partnerships fell into place. At the beginning we had moral and directional support through some great counsel from my friend Alan Graham (www.mlfnow.org) , were given our first opportunity to serve through a call from the Austin Baptist Association (www.austinbaptist.org), and away we went, a hundred miles an hour.

Then as the days went on, our houses filled up, our trailers filled up with supplies going to Houston, and our partners and friends began to give to our efforts… where our resources were running out, our relationships with Vista Community Church (www.thevistacommunity.com) , Generations Church (www.gen-church.net) , some amazing parents rallying together from my son’s soccer team (Go Scorpions!), and individual members of Austin New Church, we were able to continue (and even expand) our efforts.

When the time came to realize we had done almost all we could do…and develop a sustainable relief strategy… it was an easy transition to point all our people and incoming resources to our more established partner ministries like Mobile Loaves & Fishes (www.mlfnow.org) and the Capital Area Food Bank (www.capitalareafoodbank.org) . Amazing. Like an Army of one… never missing a step.

I’ve been reading a ton of books lately on the condition of the church. Almost every study and survey tells us that people are leaving the church, as we know it, in droves. Mostly because people feel the church has become irrelevant and an insignificant contributor to their faith. Many claim not to be rejecting God, they are rejecting the institutionalized church. George Barna predicts that in 15 years, “House Church” will represent the majority throughout America. There are many reasons for this, some I even agree with, most I understand, but what I don’t get is the lack of connection with the greater body of Christ. It seems to me we are missing something when we do our own thing, especially if our motivation is control. Maybe that desire comes from being burned, feeling like your church is out of control, or whatever… but that seems like we’ve reverted back to the school-yard and saying, “I’m taking my ball and going home.” This is definitely not a team attitude, definitely not a good starting point, and definitely not the posture you want in casting a vision for something new.

Scripture tells us that we should rejoice when Christ is preached in “all” forms and ways. Paul wrote that. So I’m not critiquing the House Church (or any form of church for that matter) as something wrong. As long as Christ is proclaimed, I’m good. I’m just basking a bit in the amazing partnerships we currently have, seeing the benefit of network, and realizing that I couldn’t dream of doing it any other way.

We are a gift to one another. Thank you, God.